Adventure Awaits!

The longer I’m here, the faster time goes. I can’t believe it’s been over three weeks! This past week has been filled with adventures, some intentional and some not so much. I’m finding that adventure is not dependent upon environment, but rather perspective. If I live my life waiting for adventure to find me, I am inevitably disappointed and bored. If I live my daily life expecting to find adventure in the mundane, I am far more likely to find it.

Just last week I was on my way from the office to the apartment, buying dinner in the market. As I might have mentioned earlier, the market is kind of like a large barn-like structure without walls. It has cement floors with grates and gullies for drainage. Inside are rows upon rows of tables piled high with all kinds of foods. I was wandering around, looking for dinner when our daily storm hit. This one was big! The rain was coming down in buckets and the thunder and lightning were crazy! After a few minutes, the gullies were full of rushing rain water and the low parts of the floor were flooding. I decided to wait it out a bit before heading home. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea and the market was packed with people just standing around waiting. Eventually the rain slowed down and I hailed a motorcycle. The driver had a huge poncho on, and the streets were completely flooded under probably 3-4 inches of water. I happened to be wearing a skirt so I sat sideways on the back of the seat, clutching my bags in my lap. At points on the ride both of my feet were dragging in the water. By the time I got back, I was completely drenched. I hopped off the seat into 6 inches of standing water in the parking lot. I got into the apartment and burst out laughing! What an adventure! I’ve included pictures of the storm clouds and of my wet-cat look just for your entertainment.

It’s really the simple things in life that provide the most opportunity for adventure. Last week I was sent on a mission to buy a toilet plunger. No big deal, right? Not so much. First of all, I had to find somewhere that sold plungers. Brittany gave me general directions but the stores here often don’t look like stores in the US. Sometimes they are just piles of stuff on the sidewalk or under an awning. In this particular case, that’s what it was. There was a young man who looked like he might have been affiliated with the store so I approached him and began the process of communicating what I was looking for with hand gestures and English words. That’s a pretty good form of communication…except when talking about plungers. Not exactly the most run-of-the mill conversation topic. Thankfully he got it eventually, and wove his way through the piles, to return with a bright pink plunger. I wasn’t about to contest his color choice, so I gratefully took it and thanked him. We walked over to the table behind which there was a woman sleeping. After several attempts by the young man to wake her up, she finally woke with a start and looked very confused that her first sight was a “farong” standing in front of her with a big smile and holding a bright pink plunger. I paid her, thanked them again, and shoved my prize into my backpack, with the handle sticking up a good 6 inches above my head. It occurred to me that perhaps I should tie a piece of fabric to the end like a flag. I resisted the impulse and spent the rest of the afternoon receiving curious and amused looks.

Such is life here in Thailand. But it doesn’t have to be isolated to Thailand; or any foreign place for that matter. What matters is the attitude with which you approach life. It could be as small as walking a different route, talking to someone you’ve never met, reading a book by an unfamiliar author, or trying out a different restaurant. Or, it could be something as large as reassessing your career path, asking God to show you His heart for something you don’t really know about, or taking a short term mission trip. It doesn’t matter what your life is like, adventure awaits you! All you have to do is look for it!